SUNDAY LUNCH (Week 7)

Favour without hardwork is an illusion, hard work without favour is oppression

Kanayo Aniegboka (Kani)

As Achievement returned to join the buffet line to be served, Favour and Hard-work were arguing over the previous night's football match. They were obviously fans of rival clubs and Achievement could not help but wonder, as she looked at them, how different yet inseparable they were. She could not wait to hear
Favour’s story. Hard-work had given her some insight, but she was sure it was
Favour’s story that had the key, because some things didn’t make a lot of sense
with Hard-work’s story. She had heard a lot of Good Samaritan stories, but one
involving 7-year old children? That felt like a stretch. She was sure Favour
would balance it out.

Sipping
her cocktail during lunch, Achievement wondered which she enjoyed more so far,
the exquisite meal she was having, or the intelligent discussion going on
between the two amazing gentlemen. She now had a sense of their personalities; Hard-work
was stern, rigid, stickler to the rules and a nerd, he didn’t take unnecessary
risks and thought through everything like a hundred times before taking a
decision. Favour, on the other hand, was spirited, easy going and played off
the seat of his pants. He would easily gamble a million dollars on a deal
because his gut felt it was a good deal but not Hard-work, Hard-work needed
proof for everything, it had to make calculative sense. Hard-work believed in diligence
and persistence, Favour believed in attitude and motivation. Achievement was enjoying herself but as much as
she would love to sit and just listen to them, she was on the clock, and there was
that thing of cracking the code that bonded the two of them, so she had to set
the meeting back on track.

“Sorry
gentlemen,” cut in Achievement, “we have a story to finish, then I will be out
of your hair.” She turned to Favour, “I think it was your turn to tell me a
tale sir”

“But
I’ve already told you mine. It was simply a need to clear the streets of a riffraff!”

“Favour
the lady is doing a job here” Hard-work cut him off, a bit of sternness
entering his voice.

“ok,
ok. Relax. Jeez” Favour whined at Hard-work, then turned to Achievement with a
smile, “What I remember…,” he cleared his throat, “One of the days that daddy
drove me to school, you see my father insisted on taking me to school each time
he was in town instead of the driver, so this certain day, we were passing by
this junction with a traffic light and there was this little boy with a tray of
akara. I don’t know why I never noticed him before that day; I mean I passed
that junction everyday on my way to school. Anyway, the car in front of us
wanted to buy some of the boy’s akara, which was actually what made me notice
him, but the traffic light turned green and the driver of the car had to move along.
The concept that moving vehicles were faster than man was obviously lost to the
lad because he took off after the car like a lightning bolt, usern bolt would
not have been a match for him. While running alongside the car, he tried to wrap
some akara balls in an old newspaper, count out the driver’s change and collect
his money all at 30km per hour. Of course this proved to be too much of a
challenge and the impatient man behind the wheels decided to abandon the purchase
and sped up his car, leaving the young sales man in a cloud of dust. I had
watched the whole thing from the vantage point riding behind the car, and daddy
had seen this too, so when our eyes met in the mirror and I called out, ‘daddy’
like a whimpering cat from behind, my father knew what I was asking of him. We stopped
beside the boy, bought the akara and drove off. Unfortunately, the image didn’t
leave my head; of that boy my age running beside a moving car trying to sell
akara to not very interested people. The next day, I asked daddy if we could buy
the boy’s akara so that he won’t have to run after moving cars. Then later, I would
bug him with questions about the boy that I shouldn’t have expected him to
know, like; ‘where were his parents? Did they know he was running after cars? Was
he lost and they were beside themselves looking for him? Which school did he
attend? Why did he not go to school…?’ My father had had enough, when one day, during
lunch, I asked him, ‘daddy is his leg hurting from running with all that akara
on his head?’ Daddy would usually respond, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘Maybe’, or ‘I guess
so’, but that day he said, ‘son when next we see him, you can ask him’.

On
our next drive-through, an amusing thing happened; the boy had a barrow full of
akara,” Favour chuckled and sipped from his wine, even Hard-work smiled from
the corner of his lips. “Daddy sighted this mound of merchandise and exclaimed,
‘you got to be kidding me’. He looked at me from the rear-view mirror and
explained that there was no way he could buy a barrow full of akara, but I was
insistent, ‘what if the money he makes is for his school fees?’ I cried. Daddy
replied that he probably didn’t go to school, so I wound down my window and
asked him. Of course you already know he didn’t answer the question, so I
assumed he was deaf and dumb and my argument that we should buy his akara
became more adamant. At the end, I told my father that if we wouldn’t buy all
his goods, then we had to take care of him, that way he wouldn’t even have need
to sell anymore. That was how we ended up at his house discussing having him on
scholarship and paying a monthly stipend for his upkeep. Knowing that he would struggle
academically, I volunteered to tutor him. We ended up spending a lot of time
together studying at my house, and he gradually became a part of the family. In
our Primary five, just before we turned eleven, I suggested to dad and mum to
adopt him since he had no parents of his own. I don’t think it was much of a
struggle cause my parents had already come to love him dearly. Even though we didn’t
have paperwork done, by our twelfth birthday, he moved into our house and has
refused to leave since then.” Taking a long sip of his wine, Favour added, dramatically
waving the wine glass, “and that is how I got saddled with the grouch”

The
table fell silent, save for the jazz music from the unseen speakers. A personal
valet, which was part of their lunch package, stood in the corner, fixed,
staring into space, no doubt listening to everything. Achievement could tell that
Hard-work was solemn, obviously moved by the story. Favour on the other hand
seemed uncomfortable with what seemed like a reverent silence coming from the
two of them, so he waved his hand in her face and said,

“Madam
prim and proper, cat got your tongue? Say something.”

He
was clearly trying hard to save them an emotional moment, but it didn’t work because
Achievement felt the wetness on her cheeks and realised she had started
shedding tears and so had Hard-work, which made a conflicting picture from his
stern hard self.

“Hard
stop this” Favour said very coolly, like someone trying to calm a dog. Achievement
realised that they must have had this kind of moments before and Favour had
been trying to prevent the usual outburst.

“I’m
ok” Hard-work replied, drawing in a very long breath.

“And
you too madam prim and proper” favour smiled at Achievement.

She
wondered where he had suddenly brewed the nickname from; she was anything but
prim and proper. And why on earth did that smile make her feel weird? She must
have looked more bewildered than she realised because Favour touched her arm
gently

“Are
you ok?” He asked

She
looked up and stared into the deepest sea of genuine care she had ever seen. At
that instant she realised with a sudden thud why she had taken the extra time to
touch up her powder in the ladies, it was the same reason she was tearing up so
badly at their story; She liked Favour! ‘Oh boy’ she muttered under her breath “Oh
boy”

“What
was that?” Favour asked leaning forward.

“I
said tell me how you guys got into business” Achievement replied, wondering if
anyone noticed that she was flustering.

Kanayo Aniegboka

Kani
is a Nigerian born and based minister, public speaker, entrepreneur and
life coach. His keen and unique perspective to life issues makes him a
refreshing voice to listen to. He currently serves as the Executive
Coordinator of House on the Rock - Word House and sits on the board of a
number of companies.